Mark Steinberg, Tiger Woods' agent, discusses his eventful year
Mark Steinberg has been Tiger Woods’ agent since 1998. In his 12 years representing one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, it seems fair to say that what transpired in the
past 12 months presented him with the biggest challenge since signing on with the 14-time major champion.
“It seems like a h**l of a lot longer than a year,” Steinberg recently told Darren Rovell of CNBC.
When stories of Woods’ infidelities first appeared in the media last November, Steinberg had to find a way to remake Woods’ public image, which has taken a beating over the past 12 months.
He lost major sponsorships, got divorced from his wife and the mother of his two young children, and stories of his numerous infidelities were front-page news for months. Woods was featured on the front page of the New York Post for 20 straight days, beating
the previous record of 19 consecutive issues after the attacks on 9/11.
Steinberg, who never considered dropping Woods as a client, said the past year has not been easy. “It was tough. But life is about standing by the people who you know are your friends,
and I stand by my clients. It was difficult, but if I were presented with what happened again, I'd do the exact same thing.”
Many in the media disapproved of how the Woods crisis was handled. With numerous stories appearing on a daily basis beginning last November, Woods didn’t appear in front of cameras until
mid-February, when he read a prepared statement and didn’t take questions. Many argue that Woods should have faced the media right away to “get in front of the story” and that he should have told his fans exactly what led to him crashing his Escalade at 2:30
a.m.
But Steinberg said he has no regrets about how the situation was handled. “There was no playbook to the situation that was in front of us. Regardless of how everything was handled, there
would be questions. What gets lost is that there was a family dynamic involved and dealing with that was paramount to everything.”
With high-profile companies such as AT&T, Gatorade, and Accenture dropping Woods as their pitchman, Steinberg was asked whether Woods would ever fully recover. “I think we live in a society
that is about second chances. And if he conducts himself the way he has been, continues his rehabilitation and performs on the golf course, I do believe he'll be back where he was before.”
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